someone told you that human beings have the ability to communicate telepathically with another person while dreaming, they would think you are crazy. The truth is, scientific interest in telepathy dates back to the beginnings of the psychoanalytic movement, this is not a new concept. Sigmund Freud, for example, pondered the idea of telepathic influence of thought, and Carl Jung believed in the telepathic hypothesis without question, he even developed a theoretical system to explain “paranormal” events.

According to Stanley Krippner, Ph.D. and professor of psychology at Saybrook University in California:

“A wealth of anecdotal and clinical material exist which supports the possibility of telepathic effects occurring in dreams (Krippner, 1974). However, an experimental approach to the topic did not become possible until psycho physiological laboratory technology became available. It was discovered that sleeping research participants awakened from periods of rapid eye movement (REM) activity were frequently able to recall dream episodes. As a result, it was possible to request a “telepathic receiver” to attempt dreaming about a target stimulus that was being focused on in a distant location from a “telepathic sender.”

Experiments and Results

Montague Ullman, MD, conducted several experiments at Maimonides Medical Center in Brookyln, New York during the mid 1960’s. She developed and tested her hypothesis that people could be primed to dream about randomly selected material. In other words, they could choose what they wanted to dream about before going to sleep, and this could include anything, from artwork to movies to photographs and more. Shortly after these experiments began, Ullman was joined by Stanley Krippner (quoted above), who has a very impressive background in the scientific study of dreams, psychology, and parapsychology.

For more than 10 years they conducted a series of experiments that “yielded statistically significant results.”During the experiments, there was usually a “telepathic sender” and a “telepathic receiver.” They met in the laboratory for a short period of time before being placed in completely separate rooms just before going to sleep. The telepathic sender had an envelope waiting for them in the room in which they’d sleep. It would contain something like a picture or a drawing. The receivers were then purposely awakened shortly after Rapid Eye Movement sleep (REM) began so the researchers could take a dream report.

A Very Significant Session

One great and very significant session of dream telepathy experimentation took place where the selected art print was “School of Dance” by Edgar Degas, which depicts a several young women in a dance class. According to Krippner, the receivers’ dream reports included such phrases as “I was in a class made up of maybe half a dozen people, it felt like a school,” and “There was one little girl that was trying to dance with me.” These results are fascinating, and the idea that one can influence another’s dream opens up a lot of doors. Although we might not understand the process behind the transfer of information, and we can’t see this transfer take place from mind to mind, we have proof of it occurring. This is quite common when we examine scientific studies that have evaluated parapsychological phenomena – we know what is happening, but not how.

In another session conducted by Krippner and Ullman took place on March 15th, 1970. In this session, a large group of people at a Holy Modal Rounders rock concert was selected to send something telepathically. A local media artist by the name of Jean Millay took responsibility to ready the telepathic senders for “target preparation.” She did this with help from the Lidd Light Company, a group of artists who were responsible for the light show at the concert. Millay gave the audience a brief verbal set of directions before the image was flashed on the large screen that the telepathic senders were looking at. Six slide projectors were used to project a colour film about eagles and their nesting habits, as well as information about various birds from around the world (including birds from mythology, like the phoenix). This all happened at the same time Holy Modal Rounders were playing their song, “If you want to be a bird.”

For this experiment, there were five volunteer telepathic receivers, and all of them were located within a one hundred mile radius from the telepathic senders. All of the receivers were aware of the concert location and were told to record their images at midnight, because that was when the material would be sent to them.

According to Krippner:

One “telepathic receiver,” Helen Andrews, had the impression of “something mythological, like a griffin or a phoenix.” The second, third and fourth research participants reported images of “a snake,” “grapes,” and “an embryo in flames.” The fifth participant was Richie Havens, the celebrated American singer and recording artist, who reported closing his eyes at midnight and visualizing “a number of seagulls flying over water.” Both Mr. Havens’ and Ms. Andrews’ reports represented direct correspondences with the target material.

More remarkable results were seen when the rock group “Grateful Dead” also volunteered to participate in a dream telepathy session over a span of six nights. You can read more about that (and other results) here. These results were actually published by the American Psychological Association

These are usually the instructions given to subjects who participate in these experiments:

1. You are about to participate in an ESP experiment.

2. In a few seconds you will see a picture.

3. Try using your ESP to “send” this picture to the receiver.

4. The receiver will try to dream about this picture. Try to “send” it to them.